a
half-laughing way, to leave pieces of money on the turf
as I went along, until I had left enough for my night's
lodging. I trust they did not fall to some rich and churlish
drover. 5

--_Travels with a Donkey._

1. What did Stevenson _see_ during the night? What
did he _hear_? How did he _feel_? The details are
not unlike those in _Robinson Crusoe_.

2. Re-read the first paragraph, page 178, and tell
what its chief idea is. Select the paragraph in
which the description is clearest to you. Read it
aloud. Observe how the simple words are arranged to
make pictures and to produce rhythm. Stevenson
rewrote many times to get this easy clearness.

3. If you have ever slept out of doors what
impressed you most? What sounds did Stevenson
probably fail to hear? Was he a naturalist?

4. Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in
1850. He belonged to a family of civil engineers.
His health was always poor, so he traveled a great
deal. He went to France and to Switzerland. He came
to America and spent some time in the Adirondacks.
Finally he settled on an island far out in the
Pacific Ocean, where he lived till his death, in
1894. In spite of his poor health, he was a busy
writer of novels, essays, short stories, and verse.

AUTUMN ON THE FARM

BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

This is a poetic description of an old-fashioned
autumn scene on a England farm. The huskers in the
field merely jerked the ear of corn from its stalk,
leaving the husk on the ear. The husks were
afterwards removed in the barn at a big husking bee
or picnic, in which the neighbors took part. Read
the poem for its pictures.

It was late in mild October,
And the long autumnal rain
Had left the summer harvest fields
All green with grass again;
The first sharp frosts had fallen, 5
Leaving all the woodlands gay
With the hues of summer's rainbow
Or the meadow flowers of May.

Through a thin, dry mist, that morning,
The sun rose broad and red; 10
At